ByteDance short-drama app gains share in China streaming market

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ByteDance short-drama app in China

Highlights

ByteDance's apps captured 41.8% of total user time on China's top 50 mobile apps in August, up from 34.2% a year earlier, driven by Douyin and Hongguo.
Hongguo, ByteDance's short-drama platform launched in 2023, ranked fourth among Chinese apps and reached nearly 370 million users in June, reflecting strong demand for short-form, ad-supported content.
Global short-drama revenue is projected by Omdia to rise from about $11 billion in 2025 to $14 billion by the end of this year, with AI-generated video production now prevalent across the sector.

Short-drama growth reshapes viewing habits

As reported by Business Insider, citing Nomura's China Internet and New Media Monthly App Tracker, ByteDance's apps accounted for 41.8% of the time users spent on China's 50 biggest mobile apps in August, up from 34.2% a year earlier. Much of that increase came from Douyin and Hongguo, the company's short-drama streaming platform.

Hongguo, launched in 2023, ranks fourth among China's biggest apps, behind Douyin, Douyin Lite and WeChat. QuestMobile said the platform had nearly 370 million users as of June, underscoring the scale of consumer demand for free, ad-supported short-form drama.

The format is built for phone screens, with episodes lasting several minutes and storylines centered on romance, revenge, fantasy and family conflict. At the same time, long-form streaming platforms are losing traction, with monthly time spent in August down 35% year on year for iQIYI, 40% for Tencent Video and 27% for Mango TV.

Global revenue potential and AI adoption

China's short-drama surge is also feeding a wider international market. Omdia expects the U.S., the largest market outside China, to generate roughly half of the 3 billion dollars in international short-drama revenue forecast for this year.

Omdia estimates global short-drama revenue at about 11 billion dollars in 2025 and expects it to rise to 14 billion dollars by the end of this year. The format is also becoming a testing ground for AI-generated video production.

Speaking at the DBS Asia Future Forward Conference in Singapore on Monday, TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew said AI video tools are helping brands produce advertising at a fraction of traditional costs, a trend he said is already evident in China's short-drama industry. He added that the overwhelming majority of short dramas now being produced use AI models, including ByteDance's Seedance.

We previously reported on ByteDance’s move to strengthen AI safety by setting up an Alignment & Preparedness team within its Seed research unit and launching a global hiring drive for researchers. That earlier update highlighted how the new group is meant to expand testing, oversight and risk preparedness as models become more autonomous, reflecting rising scrutiny around frontier AI deployment.

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